Nazara’s Nextwave To Finalise Acquisition Of Ultimate Teen Patti In Next One Month

Gaming major Nazara Technologies’ subsidiary Nextwave Multimedia will be completing the acquisition of casual freemium card game UTP- Ultimate Teen Patti in a month.

“We hereby inform you that the indicative timeline for completion for acquisition of all the IP rights by Next Wave Multimedia Private Limited pertaining to the “UTP – Ultimate Teen Patti” casual freemium card game / software and associated trademarks (“UTP – IP Assets”) from U Games by way of assignment for an aggregate cash consideration of INR 10 Cr inclusive of applicable taxes, if any, is now expected to be within the next 30 days,” Nazara said in an exchange filing.

On April 4, the company announced that Nextwave Multimedia is buying all the intellectual property rights related to “UTP – Ultimate Teen Patti”, a casual freemium card game from U Games, a subsidiary of skill gaming unicorn Games24x7.

Nazara also said that Nextwave Multimedia is buying these assets for INR 10 Cr in cash, of which INR 9 Cr was paid on April 4, with the remaining INR 1 Cr to be paid upon completion of the transfer of services and backend integrations related to the IP assets of the game.

Launched in early 2015, UTP – Ultimate Teen Patti is a free-to-play social casual card game and does not offer any real money winnings to the players. It achieved a gross turnover of INR 7 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23).

Meanwhile, Chennai-based Nextwave develops casual and multiplayer mobile games in the sports genre, including the World Cricket Championship, one of the most popular cricket games. It claims to have over 100 Mn downloads across platforms over the last seven years.

Earlier this year, Nazara announced acquiring another 28.12% stake in Nextwave Multimedia Private Limited for INR 21.6 Cr to increase Nazara’s stake in the company to 100%.

Nazara had first acquired a majority stake in Nextwave in January 2018. Later, in May last year, it acquired another 19.5% stake in the subsidiary in an all-cash deal worth INR 15.5 Cr, increasing its total stakeholding to 71.88%.

Despite its presence, the freemium gaming business currently makes up only a small fraction of Nazara’s total revenue. Last year, Nazara CEO Nitish Mittersain told Inc42 in an interview that it was now looking at aggressive expansion – organic as well as inorganic.

“We are looking at multiple categories, multiple genres – so they could be for young kids, could be mid-core games as well. What is important for us is that it should have a strong identity, community around it, and it should have strong core metrics such as high retention,” he said.